The composer is celebrating his milestone achievements with a new album and here he talks through the works and the planned celebrations

* My new album for Deutsche Grammophon marks a real milestone for me, celebrating both my 70th birthday and 50 years of my career in music. It is called Motets. A motet is a piece of sacred music for unaccompanied voices.

* The CD features a set of choral pieces, some newly composed and some taken from my most popular and enduring extended pieces like The Armed Man, Requiem, The Peacemakers, Adiemus and Palladio.

* There are three pieces taken from The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace – my most performed work with more than 1,500 performances since its premiere in 2000. That’s about two per week somewhere in the world. I was privileged to conduct it at New York’s Carnegie Hall on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. The new recording features Benedictus, Agnus Dei and the closing chorale, God shall wipe away all tears

* Some wise words influence Motets. For another three pieces are taken from my album The Peacemakers – Healing Light, Dona nobis pacem and Peace, peace! The Peacemakers draws on the words of, amongst others, Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King and Terry Waite. Of those chosen here, the first two have anonymous text, (Healing light a Gaelic hymn) while Peace, peace! is a poem by Shelley.

* Pie Jesu and In paradisum are from my Requiem a mass for the souls of the dead and dedicated to my late father, J.D. Jenkins, who was at one time organist and chorus master at Tabernacle C.M Chapel, Penclawdd.

* Ave verum corpus, originally written for Bryn Terfel, is from Stabat Mater, which tells of Mary’s suffering at the foot of the cross. From the same work comes And the Mother did weep, itself an adaptation of Amaté adea from Adiemus: Songs of Sanctuary.

* I have also revisited Adiemus: Songs of Sanctuary with Cantata Domino and Ave Maria, reworkings of Adiemus and Hymn respectively. Adiemus originally had my invented language but to make it a “motet” I have adapted sacred text for the music.

* I’ll make music (originally recorded by Haley Westenra) and Laudamus te are from Gloria, while Lullay comes from Stella natalis, a Christmas piece from a couple of years back.

* Exsultate jubilate is based on Palladio, a ‘retro’ instrumental piece inspired by the Italian architect of the same name. This is well known from its use as the soundtrack for a De Beers’ (jewellers) diamond commercial.

* Of the new pieces, The Shepherd and Depart in Peace (Nunc dimittis) are taken from The Healer: A Cantata for St Luke, which was commissioned by Grayshott Concerts for première in 2014. Locus iste (God lives here) was composed merely a week before this recording.

* Motets was recorded at All Hallows Church Hampstead, London, in January and the wonderful choir was Polyphony, conducted by Stephen Layton. Whatever merits my music has, I can say that this is the most beautiful singing on any of my recordings.

* My actual 70th birthday was on February 17 but work began on the birthday year last autumn with the preparation of Motets. The actual celebratory concerts began at Carnegie Hall in New York on Martin Luther King Day followed a few weeks later by a Classic FM concert at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff so it was wonderful to celebrate in my homeland.

* While I’m from Gower, it is perhaps not widely known but I had a Swedish grandfather, a sailor by the name of Carl Gustavus Pamp, who sailed to Newport and met my grandmother, who was there selling cockles, the local produce from my home village of Penclawdd. He settled in Wales but I spent a large part of my early life in Sweden. It was a privilege to have been asked to go there and conduct The Armed Man with a Swedish choir of 200 young people who sang the whole 60-plus minutes from memory. An impressive accomplishment – and it sounded good!

* Future events this year include my Latin American inspired piece, Colores, at the International Eisteddfod Llangollen (July 9) before returning to my home village for the Gower Festival (July 12). On July 16, I conduct the Soweto Strings at London’s Southbank Centre in my Soweto Suite for Strings.

This remarkable group is an inspiration and example of how enriching the process of making music can be, sometimes in corners of the globe where one might least expect it. Then in the autumn we undertake a short UK tour: Symphony Hall, Birmingham (November 1), Bridgewater Hall, Manchester (November 2) and a concert (The Armed Man &amp; Euphonium Concerto) with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales at St.David’s Hall, Cardiff (Nov 31).

October 16 and 17 mark the premiere of The Healer: a Cantata for St. Luke in Surrey, while on October 18, as part of the Swansea Festival, the Russian State Philharmonic Orchestra give the first performances, at the Brangwyn Hall, of Llareggub, an ‘overture’ based on Under Milk Wood. A preview concert of this piece takes place at Cadogan Hall, London on Oct 13. The 70th year ends with a return to New York and Carnegie Hall next January.

Karl Jenkins’ new album, Motets, is available now on Deutsche Grammophon

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